Commerce Ming Wah Hong

A grand, well stocked and expertly curated selection of teas. If you’ve got a tea in mind … chances are they’ve got it.
Anybody in her right mind will sensibly loathe the «American Tea Party» (the fringe right wing extremist element of the Republican Party in the unceded Indigenous territories of the so-​called United States) but who wouldn’t like a Chinese tea party!
From white teas to green, from red teas to black … all the way to pu’er and even special herbal blends. They’ve got inexpensive teas and super super high priced teas. I asked Mr Howard Low (the kind and gentlemanly proprietor) to show me a selection of his most intensely flavoured jasmine teas. He went to the shelves, retrieved these huge glass jars and proceeded to introduce me to three different teas. I asked for a hundred grammes of the hand rolled jasmine pearl white tea. Then I asked about my favourite … pu’er. Pu’er is a twice (or sometimes thrice) fermented aged dark tea. It is deliciously smoky and earthy and creamy and velvety and oh so good. He had me smell four different jars. The first was a five year old pu’er which was pungent yet relatively subtle. The second was aged fifteen years. Number three was twenty years old and the last one was aged thirty years. That 30 year old tea, indeed, smelled like the year 1985 … it was very very strong. At forty dollars per gramme I felt like I was getting a damn good deal. I got four generous grammes. They’ve got an 1800 $ pu’er that is thirty years old! That tea is the same age as I am and probably worth more to boot. Forget about appraising me based upon my weight in gold … let’s talk about my weight in tea!
The Quartier chinois is probably my second favourite neighbourhood in Montréal but let’s call it what it is … let’s use the morally and ethically correct nomenclature … my city, the neighbourhoods and boroughs I frequently patronise should be known by a truer name … the unceded Indigenous territories of the Mohawk, of the Abenaki, and of the Huron … otherwise known as so-​called Montréal. Decolonise your mind.

This is a truly an authentic Chinese Tea House that focuses on the medicinal properties of teas. Yet, Mr. Low does keep popular teas such as Earl Grey and Chai on hand for us westerners. The bonus is he will tell you their medical properties based on their ingredients.
I was browsing for good places to purchase loose tea on the internet and came upon a review of SpécialThés on
. The posted picture made it look so authentic that I had to try it out. I was not disappointed. Mr. Low, the manager, was a pleasure to talk to and is so knowledgeable in teas. He has a wide variety of teas for every taste.
I asked for a Pur’eh (red tea), he gave me three different types to smell and my noise deciphered the best on. I think I impressed him, as he kept on telling me «you choose the best.»
He asked me how I learned about this place, and I said I saw a review on the internet. Apparently, a tea fanatic had tried all the tea places in Montréal and deemed his the best. He never heard from her again, except people have been trickling into his store due to a review she posted on the internet. You can read the review that influenced me here:
.
If you love loose leaf tea and wish to expand your horizons, I strongly recommend Mr. Low’s shop on the corner of Clark and René-​Lévesque.
P. S.:
— Make sure to take your notebook with you when you go to this shop because you have to write down or memorize the steeping instructions.
— Keep in mind the price on the bottles is tax included, so the quality of tea is superior to David’s Tea for the same dollar price.